THE PLOT THUS FAR
At a big campus, a group of bullied outcasts and misfits resolve to fight back for their peace and self respect.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
“Revenge of the Nerds” is a great movie about nerds overcoming the odds. It also advocates rape, home invasions, recreational drug use and a litany of misdemeanors. Plus, the term nerd is applied to a broad spectrum of personalities for 1984. Basically, if you’re a stoner, a homosexual, a child prodigy, a minority, a dude that looks like Harpo Marx or fat…you’re an outsider. The Alpha Betas attack the nerds and they’re given carte blanche by the University. The University seems beholden to the Athletic Department and that’s par for the course at most state schools. But, John Goodman is just so obnoxious about it in an early role.
There is so much to mine without spitting out the plot synopsis. If you want that, then you’re a small child who never had Cinemax growing up. Grab a copy of Maltin’s Movie Guide and stuff it up your butt. Oh wait! You can’t anally please yourself with Maltin’s juvenile takes on film because everything is digital now. Times like these are when I feel like freaking Channing Tatum in “21 Jump Street”. While it’s great that kids are more inclusive, it only puts a bigger spotlight on how royally messed up things were in yesteryear.
The movie still functions on it its own, but I’m not sure if it can survive the forced connections in pop culture. When you think about the film, it draws instant connection to “American Splendor” or the cult favorite sequel. Hell, I like the Nerd rap from “Nerds in Paradise” so much better than the Electronic music in this one. What was up with that sequence? Kraftwerk faded for nerds about 5 years before the movie dropped and the sound wasn’t New-Wave. Plus, there were a shit-ton of sex crimes in this one. What makes it worse is that in the third one, you find out that the chick Lewis Skolnick raped would end up marrying him. The Reagan era was a weird as shit time for cinema.
The Blu-Ray comes with deleted scenes, featurettes, commentary, a TV pilot and the original trailer as the special features. The DTS-HD 1.0 master audio track is period appropriate. Yeah, I know it was a summer release in 1984, but so was Buckaroo Banzai. Guess which one will probably get dumped on Twilight Time? The 1080p transfer is pretty solid, but shows a bit of debris and noise. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.
RELEASE DATE: 05/06/14